Hello readers! Your favorite traveling blogger is now in the village of Portobelo, Panama. I arrived at Shelter Bay Marina a few days ago, which is on the Caribbean (northern) side of the world's most famous canal. If you are a long-term follower of my travels, and that location sounds familiar, you are correct! I was here four years ago sailing with Robert aboard his classic wooden boat Milagro. On that trip, we headed west and explored the island archipelago of Bocas del Toro for a full month.
Now I am sailing with Ramon - and if that name also sounds familiar, correct again! Three years ago, I sailed up the U.S. east coast with him aboard his spacious trimaran Calmer Waters. And this time we are headed east from Shelter Bay, toward the archipelago called San Blas, and other destinations. I will be with Ramon for about three weeks.
As before, I will use my ready-to-use Sailing Dragonfly blog to chronicle my travels.
We were kinda stuck at the marina for a few days, waiting arrival of a boat part. Most days, the weather was ... awful. It rained constantly. But while there, I took advantage of our situation and visited with all the other yachties and travelers and, as always, worked at making as many new friends as possible.
Pictured here is Mike and Mary Beth, a wonderful couple, owners of Song of the South, and our marina neighbors. Like many other boaters, they were here for maintenance and upgrades.
Here are siblings Jackson and Althea, ages 10 and 8, respectively. They were born in Sweden. (Jackson looks just like my grandson Philip, and Althea looks like my daughter Emily.) Their father runs a sailing charter business out of the San Blas islands from his 70-plus-ft monohull, also here for maintenance. These two fun-loving kids were always around.
There was a lot of interesting wildlife in these parts. Occasionally we could hear howler monkeys off in the distance, with their loud vocalizations. This saltwater crocodile lives here in the marina. He's rarely seen, but I got lucky!
This racoon-like creature is called a coati. They were everywhere.
On Tuesday day we biked - and scootered - to Ft. Lorenzo, about 7 miles away. Did I mention that Ramon has a little dog named Coco, and that Coco goes everywhere with him? Accompanying us was another boater named Grant who had a spare bike he loaned us.
Ft. Lorenzo was one of several historical military forts in the area. There was an impressive array of huge canons.
On Thursday, we were finally able to leave Shelter Bay Marina. We exited thru the opening in the canal breakwater, out onto the open Caribbean Sea, and turned northeast.
And then the storm hit. Pouring rain, lightning, and rolling, confused waves. But oddly, not a lot of wind. Even after the storm dissipated, the wind was pretty much non-existent. It's sad when you're aboard a fine sailing vessel such as this, but cannot use your sails. So we motored for the entire 37 miles, following the mountainous coastline to our south.
Portobelo is a quaint little Panamanian town, located in a small bay. A handful of boats were anchored there. It was a little touristy, with yet another 400-year-old military fort, barely standing. We dinghied ashore and did some exploring. There were many restaurants and markets, plus some interesting architecture, like the church pictured here.
But the nearby bay had numerous wrecked boats. Watch out!
Stay tuned for more exciting adventures as Calmer Waters heads eastbound.
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